City undergoes shuffling to prepare for college

Jeffrey Libby

Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2002 | 9:49 a.m.

A former manufacturing plant bought by the city of Henderson at considerable expense three years ago may finally be put to full-time use this September as part of efforts to open Nevada State College.

The old Hesse manufacturing building on Moser Drive -- where often the only suggestions of industry are a slight scent of sewage from the nearby water treatment center and the barking of dogs at the city pound -- will be renovated for use by about 100 public works staffers.

The public works staff members are moving from a former vitamin factory in the Wagon Wheel Industrial Park to make way for students and teachers of the state college, which is due to open Sept. 3.

For the city's investment in the Moser Drive building, a truck body assembly plant through the 1980s, it's been a long time coming.

The 65,000-square-foot plant has been empty and off tax rolls since the city bought it in 1999, with the exception of providing space for a boxing league earlier this summer and occasionally providing storage for library books and social services goods.

The city paid $10 million to developer Phyllis Thompson, who had paid less than half that amount for the property the previous year -- $4.55 million, according to Clark County assessor's records.

Before either the city staff arrives at the Moser Drive building or students and teachers arrive at the former vitamin factory, the city will spend another $989,000 -- an estimated $764,000 to build the Moser Drive offices and $225,000 to renovate the former vitamin factory for use by the college. The college will pay rent of $1 a year.

The nearly $1 million in renovation costs, approved in votes this month and last year, is on top of another $75,000 approved by the city in February 2000 to renovate the former vitamin factory when city staff first moved there.

City officials said at the time that the move helped ease crowding at City Hall.

John Rinaldi, director of property management, said the purchase of the Moser Drive building in 1999 was based on appraisals by the city and by Thompson that put the value of the property between $9.8 million and $10 million.

The taxable value of the property today is closer to $3.8 million.

"We identified that property as a potentially good site for additional city facilities in the long-term. It's one of the most liberally zoned industrial areas in town," Rinaldi said.

The purchase was part of an effort to expand the city's holdings in the area, Rinaldi said. The city owns 302 acres adjacent to the Moser Drive building, much of which is used by the sewage treatment facility. The city has made no other recent purchases in the area, Rinaldi said.

Despite the combined renovation costs of more than $1 million, Rinaldi could not say for sure if the money would help create a permanent home for public works staff or whether it would provide another short-term fix.